Tea Party Disaster

“Mom! Do you know where Miss Molly’s pink dress is?”

“You mean the one with the butterfly on it?” Jessie’s mom replied.

“Yeah. I was going to put it on Miss Molly for the tea party,” Jessie explained. “Now I can’t find it anywhere. And it was my favorite dress!”

Jessie searched all around, but the pink dress was nowhere to be found. Now her doll would have to wear the blue dress instead.

“Did you find the pink dress?” asked Mom.

“No. I guess Miss Molly will have to wear something else,” Jessie said with a frown.

“I’m sure she won’t mind. Besides, she has lots of pretty dresses,” Mom said.

“Yeah, I know. But the pink butterfly dress was brand new and so pretty.”

Jessie went up to her room to get her doll ready to visit Emily’s house. Jessie and her cousin both had the same kind of doll. Her doll was named Miss Molly, and Emily’s doll was named Millie. The girls enjoyed having tea parties and dressing their dolls in fancy clothes.

But today was different. Jessie walked up the street to Emily’s house pushing her doll in her stroller. She grumbled to herself, “I just bought that beautiful dress with my own money, and now it’s gone!”

When Jessie rang the doorbell, her Aunt Angela, Emily’s mom, answered the door. “Well, hello there, Jessie,” she said with a smile. “Emily is waiting for you in her room. She has the tea party all ready.”

“Thanks, Aunt Angela,” said Jessie. She held Miss Molly in her arms as she went up the stairs to Emily’s room.

“Hi, Jessie!” Emily jumped up and gave Jessie a hug. “I’ve got everything all ready. You and Miss Molly can sit down.”

Jessie walked over to the tea party table and froze. She stared at Emily’s doll. Jessie couldn’t believe it. Right there in front of her was Miss Molly’s pink butterfly dress—only it was on Millie!

“Whaa?” Jessie couldn’t speak. How could Millie be wearing her doll’s dress?

“Do you like Millie’s new dress? She just got it yesterday!” Emily announced.

Jessie couldn’t believe her eyes. It didn’t make any sense.

“What’s wrong, Jessie?” Emily asked.

“You stole it!” Jessie shouted. “How could you steal Miss Molly’s dress and put it on your doll?”

“Huh? I didn’t steal anything. I just bought that dress for Millie yesterday. I thought Miss Molly would wear hers too, and we could pretend they were twins,” Emily explained.

Jessie was too angry to listen. She stomped her foot. “I’m not playing with you ever again! Come on Miss Molly, let’s go home.” And with that, Jessie and Miss Molly stormed out, leaving poor Emily alone in her room.

Emily ran downstairs. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she told her mom what happened.

“I’m sorry, Sweetheart,” said Emily’s mom. “I guess we’ll just have to give Jessie some time to settle down. Then maybe we can figure out why she was so angry.”

When Jessie got home, she went straight to her room and slammed her door. Pretty soon, her mother came in with a frown on her face. “What’s going on?”

“Emily stole my doll’s pink butterfly dress,” Jessie replied angrily.

“She what? Jessie, I think you’ve made a mistake,” Mom said.

“But Emily stole the dress and put it on her own doll. I saw it! I’ll never play with Emily again!” Jessie started to cry. She was so mad—and sad—she didn’t know what to do.

Jessie’s mom hugged her. “Jessie, I want you to listen to me. It’s true, Emily bought the same dress for her doll yesterday. Aunt Angela told me so on the phone.”

Jessie sniffled and looked up at her mom. “Really?” she gulped.

“Yes, really. And guess what I found in Freckles’s bed?” Mom held up a crumpled pink doll dress.

Jessie gasped. “Freckles took it? I guess I forgot to look there.”

Then Jessie got a horrified look on her face. “I told Emily I never wanted to play with her again. Oh no! I didn’t mean it. I love Emily; she’s my best cousin!”

“Well, it sounds like you should be telling that to Emily. You should go back and tell her you’re truly sorry and ask her to forgive you. That’s the only way to be reconciled.”

“Reconciled?”

“Yes. That means that you forgive each other and that you’re friends again.”

“Oh, I better hurry! I want us to be recon-rec-rec—whatever you said!” Jessie jumped off her bed, grabbed the pink dress, and ran out the door to Emily’s house.

“Emily, I’m sorry!” Jessie blurted when Emily opened her front door. “Freckles stole the dress, not you!” Jessie held up the crumpled dress for Emily to see. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you or said you stole it. Will you forgive me?”

Emily was quiet for a moment. But when she saw the crumpled dress and Jessie’s sad face, she finally said, “Yes, I forgive you.”

Jessie grabbed Emily up in a big hug. “Thank you, Emily. Let’s go get Miss Molly so we can finish our tea party.”

The girls skipped down the sidewalk together to pick up Miss Molly. It was going to be a great tea party after all!